Railway-crossing.



L. G. MCKAM. RAILWAY CROSSING. APPLICAHON FlLED FEB, 21. mm.

Patented Dec. 31, 1918.

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LAWRENCE G. MCKAM, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN.

RAILWAY-CROSSIN G.

Specification of Letters Patent.

. Application filed February 21, 1918. Serial No. 218,417.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, LAWRENCE Gr. MCKAM, a citizen of the United States, residing at Detroit, in the county of Wayne and State of Michigan, have invented a new and use ful Improvement in Railway-Crossings, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to railway crossings and hasfor its object a crossing which is easilyassembled and which has great durability. v

The crossing is so constructed that the treads of the wheels are lifted upon the flanges so that they do not drop into the usual groove in crossing a track, wearin the ends of the rails that obtain at the groove and resulting in annoying and noisy The particulars of the construction will more fully appear hereinafter.

In the drawings,-

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a crossing embodying my invention. a

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the chair and the connecting rails showing how they are assembled.

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional, view of a connecting rail and a pair of chairs.

Fig. 4 is a-plan view of a chair with a connecting rail.

In an ordinary single crossing four chairs a are employed. Each chair is a casting having a head forming two fish plate-like flanges b, b to receive the ends of the con necting rails 0. These flanges form the socket of a scarf joint and the ends of the connecting rails c, a are formed into a notch and shoulder extension so that the connecting rails may be scarfed into the chair. Bolts may be passed through the bolt holes in the flanges b and through the ends of the connecting rails to securely hold the connecting rails to the chairs and the connecting rails and chairs can all be held down to the track bed by spikes passing into ties (not shown).

Obviously this affords a simple arrangement as the chairs are simply castings and can be made of manganese steel, which is relatively hard and durable. This construction is made possible by the elimination of the necessity of hardened inserts by reason of the arrangement presently to be described. The connecting rails 0 not only are easy to assemble but when they are as senibled in'place it will readily be understood that by reason of the hook-like ends tion 0 so that bolts ma I prevent the separatthe stresses that are Patented Dec. 31,1918.

of the scarf joint the rails not only serve I tails which comprise a rail section d-a'nd a fish-plate section 6. The main rail which continues the track from the crossing may have its end abut against the end of the rail section 0! and consequently will be overlapped nearits end by the fish-plate secbe passed through the fish-plate section and the rail tobolt the rail tothe chair in the customary way of making a fish-plate joint.

Now referring to Fig. 2, it will be seen that the flange groove formed in the tail piece between the rail sectionsand the fishplate section is inclined from the rearto the head of the chair where the connecting rail ends abut against'the chair. Consequently by this rise the flange comes in contact with the bottom of the groove and the tread of the wheel is thereby lifted about f ths of an inch above the rail so that the wheel rides noiselessly over the flange groove of the intersecting railroad track. The connecting rail 0 is preferably arranged with a flange groove with a high bottom so'that the wheel rides on the flange all the way across the connecting rail. Hence there is only one rise and fall at a crossing.

It will be obvious that in the case of a crossing with more than one track, the same construction slightly modified may be uti lized. The shape of the chair will be slightly different, some of the chairs having three or four scarf sockets and only one or no tail piece, depending upon the location of the chair and the lay of the crossing.

What I claim is:

1. In a railroad crossing. a chair provided with a pair of fish plate-like flanges forming a socket and connected by a member whose inside surfawe forms a shoulder. and a rail which can be assembled into the chair by dropp ng the same thereinto and which is provided with a notr'h and shoulder extension, the latter of which drops in behind the shoulder formed by the connecting member and the former of which straddles the connecting member to form a scarf joint, substantially as described.

2. A railroad crossing having a chair portion which comprises a rail section and a fish plate section, and a rail whose end may tails comprlsingceach pairs of fish be caused to abut against the end of the rail section of the thair and whose side will be overlapped near the end of the rail by the said fish plate section of the chair, and means for holding the fish plate section and rail together.

3. Ina railway crossing, a chair provided with one or more pairsof fish plate-like flanges forming ea h a sorket with a notch and a shoulder, and on'e'or'm'ore connecting rails having at its-"end a scarf-like joint portion inthe form of a-not1h and a shoulder, the end ofthe connecting rail adapted to be dropped in between the fish platelike fianges with theshoulder on the 'end of the rail engaging in thenoteh-of the chair and the shoulder in'the chair engaging in the notch in the'rail, substantially as described.

4. vIn arailway crossing, a thair in 'the form of a casting provided with one or more plate-like flanges forming sockets of a scarf jointyand one or more a "rail section and a fish-plate sectionyand'one ormore connecting rails" having ajsc'arf-like end portion adapted to be scarfed into the sockets of the chair. a 1

"5. In a railway crossing, a chairhavin'g copieslot this patent may be-obtained tor five cents each, by-addressing the Washington, D. 0.

one or more conne ting rails having ends that can be started into the scarf sockets of the chair. v

6. In a railway'crofssin'g, a plurality of chairs havin'g those portions whi h lie the'outside of the crossing provided with flange grooves whi h 're inclined gradu ally from the outside toward the inside of the chair .for the purpose of lifting the flange and causing the tread of the wheel to clear the tread of the rail.

7; In a railway crossing, the combination of aplurality of chairs provided with intersecting flange grooves which have the flange groovebottom' inclined'from theoutside to the inside of the chair .for the purpose ot lifting the tread of the wheel over the intersectin'gflange groove by reason ofthe wheel riding on theflan'ge.

.In witness whereof I have hereunto -set my hand on the 15th day of February, 1918 LAWRENCE G. MCKAM.

Commissioner of Patents. 

